In its 4 1/2 year history, Chicago band Ministry has recorded for (A) the Wax Trax label, an independent Chicago concern, (B) Arista Records, a major national label, and (C) Sire Records, another major that is a branch of the Warner Bros. recording empire and Ministry's current home.

As labels go, (A) is very different from (B) and (C). Wax Trax, Ministry's first label, has an artist roster that few would call mainstream. Its records tend to be adventurous, uncompromising affairs - terms that also fit Ministry's recordings through the years - and the label pretty much knows its records aren't going to reach the Top 100, let alone the Top 10. A Wax Trax EP that sold more than 10,000 copies would be a very successful EP.

So you can't help but wonder what changes Al Jourgensen - the songwriter/ vocalist/multi-instrumentalist who is Ministry's main man - noticed when he made the jump to major national labels, where big-scale commercial success can be more of a consideration. Did anyone at those labels, for example, ever throw an arm around Jourgensen's shoulders and say, "We really love your stuff, Al, but could you make it sound more like Corey Hart"?

"Oh, yeah," says Jourgensen. "That's what Ministry's Arista album was all about. Basically, it was like trying to write an album with a gun to your head. That whole album. . . . I loathe it. Always did. Always will. It's not even my material, as far as I'm concerned. Sure, I wrote it, but. . . .

"Well, I really shouldn't comment on it. But you'd come up with material, and they wouldn't like it, so you'd have to start from scratch again. I'll pretty much leave it at that. Otherwise, you might get me on a soapbox for two hours."

When things did not quite work out at Arista, Jourgensen recorded again for Wax Trax for a while. Now, he reports, he has found a fairly comfortable home at Sire.

"Yeah, Sire pretty much just lets me go about my business," he says. "They pretty much leave me alone, which is good. That's what I need. I mean, it's such a stupid thing to sign a band and then demand a hit right away to instantly recoup the money. The point is, you have to do it by building your own following, and that is not necessarily done by writing instant hits.

"Sire's going to let me go for a couple records and build a following - so when we release a record in the future, people will buy the record because it's Ministry and not because there's a song on it that's on the airwaves at that time. I don't want people buying my records for this summer's hit. I want people buying them because they're interested in what Ministry will have to say in the future."

While he is enjoying relative freedom at Sire, says Jourgensen, the very fact that he's on a major label can affect his thinking.

"Even if Sire completely leaves you alone, you always have in the back of your mind that your music is going to be distributed to a lot of people, and a lot of people are going to have opinions on it," says Jourgensen. "It's more of a pressure-cooker situation. And you do one of two things: completely block it out of your mind, or just press and press and press and hopefully get to the point where you can pretend it's a Wax Trax release, where there's really not that kind of pressure. If it's a hit, that's fantastic. If it's not, you didn't expect it to be anyway - you were just doing it for the love of it."

Jourgensen and a Ministry line-up consisting of bassist Ion Barker, drummer Bill Rieflin and sax/keyboard player Roland Barker will kick off a four-month tour with two shows Saturday at the Vic, then make another area appearance April 12 at the Holiday Star Theater in Merrillville, Ind. The current tour, says Jourgensen, is not being underwritten by Sire. But, aware that Ministry's recently released Sire album "Twitch" is not the sort of mainstream pop that dominates the charts, Jourgensen thinks it's necessary to take the band's music "to the people."

"When you do an album like the new one - with no tried and true, stereotyped hits on it, no love ballads - you pretty much have to take your case onto the streets," he says. "Because there's going to be no promotional push. No 'Entertainment Tonight' interviews. You have to take your case to the people, which is fine. If you're going to do an album like that, don't cry when it doesn't go Top 10 unless you've worked for it."